Tuesday, August 14, 2012

CatholicVote endorses Romney-Ryan.

CatholicVote.org is proud to announce that we are enthusiastically endorsing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in the 2012 presidential race!

The decision to endorse Romney for President was made after Governor Romney announced Saturday that he had selected Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Congressman Ryan is a superb choice. He is a committed Catholic and a candidate willing to engage in the much-needed debate about the role of government in our society - including the moral dimensions of our ballooning federal government. Paul Ryan actually uses the word 'subsidiarity' and can explain it!

Paul Ryan is also strongly pro-life. He has a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Committee. He voted for a constitutional amendment to protect marriage, and he supports school choice. Perhaps most importantly -- Paul Ryan also clearly understands the dangers posed by the HHS mandate, and he will fight as hard as anyone to make sure it is eliminated.

Now consider this....

Many people are heralding the selection of Ryan because of what he represents, and the seriousness that he will inject into the campaign. But the choice of Ryan also tells us something significant about Mitt Romney too: Paul Ryan is the man Mitt Romney believes is best suited to assume the responsibilities of President should that become necessary.

Of all the qualified choices available to him, Mitt Romney chose a dedicated pro-life Catholic to help him turn the country around.

While some predicted Romney would select a "safe" running mate, the former Massachusetts governor went bold. America cannot afford to tiptoe anymore around the critical issues facing our country. With entitlement programs set to go bankrupt, our economy floundering, and the moral fabric of our nation disintegrating, we need leaders willing to take bold risks to get us back on track.

And in his first major decision, Mitt Romney delivered. Big time.

Our Moment

What does the selection of Paul Ryan mean for Catholics? A lot in fact. At least when comes to politics, CatholicVote.org believes this could be a pivotal moment for the Catholic Church in America

Paul Ryan will be the first pro-life Catholic to appear on a Republican presidential ticket since Roe v. Wade. Paul Ryan understands his faith. He understands Catholic social teaching, and prays and works to apply his faith to the practice of politics, including his economic and budget proposals.

Paul Ryan is not your typical Catholic politician.

For decades Catholics came to the shores of America looking for freedom, economic opportunity, and a place to practice their faith and raise a family. For many American Catholics during the last century, the Democratic Party became their home. Whether fairly or not, Republicans were perceived as the party of big business, while the Democratic Party was considered the political ally of the common man.

Much has since changed.

This year the Democratic Party will place homosexual marriage into their party platform alongside their fierce commitment to protecting the legal right to destroy unborn children, including taxpayer support of this holocaust. Furthermore, in the past year, a Democratic president and its leadership in the Congress and Senate have endorsed a mandate that will force Catholics to violate our deeply held moral beliefs -- and may even shut down many Catholic institutions in the process.

Behind these "culture war" issues has been a debate about the size and role of government. Should the federal government provide universal health care? Should government decide what schools are best for our children? What about the role of government in our economy, and in "redistributing" wealth?

What does social justice mean? And how is it best achieved?

No, we are not saying that Catholics should simply vote Republican in every election. We must be proudly Catholic first, not partisan. Republicans who attack our Faith or endorse policies that destroy children and the family must be opposed with equal passion.

But the kind of vision for government and society proposed by Paul Ryan is a vision we heartily endorse. And what is his vision? It's the vision of our Founders, Alexis de Tocqueville, and the practice of much of American history. And contrary to some partisan Catholics, it is a vision for civil society that the Catholic Church has long defended as grounded in prudence and moral principles.

The vision of government proposed by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan is a vision of limited government and the unlimited potential of human freedom. It is a vision based in reality; a vision that recognizes when government grows too large, it inevitably destroys the very structures of civil society that make freedom and human flourishing possible.

The vision for America proposed by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan is a vision grounded, not in government mandates and coercion, but in the power of human creativity, innovation, the family, churches, and the intermediate institutions that make up civil society.